Monday, April 28, 2008

Today is Violet's 3rd birthday. She and Anara had a fun weekend celebrating both of their birthdays with family (perhaps photos from that will be posted later), but today was Violet's special day. Amanda and the girls picked me up from work and we had lunch downtown. Then tonight was just candles and a little cake, and an almost heartbreaking moment when Violet got a sad look on her face and said, "I don't want to be a big girl."

Well, baby girl, we have often wished we could freeze time, too, so you could stay little. But it has been so fun watching you grow! I made a movie like Anara's so people can see.

Happy Birthday, Violet Grace!

Note: this was harder to put together than Anara's. Two more years of photos with a shorter song to squeeze them into!

Friday, April 18, 2008

Morning sickness. We are excited to announce that I am 10 weeks pregnant. I wanted to wait and make sure that there really was a baby and not something really wrong with me before making the announcement. We are praying for a healthy baby to arrive sometime mid-November (due date November 15th). We are very excited and thankful to God for this blessing.

Monday, April 14, 2008

April 9th was Anara's Gotcha Day (the day that we got her from the orphanage). We celebrated by taking her out to lunch and talking about her adoption story. Nate wanted to do something special for Anara to celebrate her being home 1 year.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Okay Lori I have been putting this off forever because, well, I just am not that interesting. A while ago (months and months), Lori tagged me for an "8 interesting things about yourself" post. I have thought about this off and on and really have struggled to come up with 8 things that anyone would find that interesting. Here are my 8 not so interesting facts.

1. I spent my adolescence accompanying my mom to the morgue. She used to remove corneas or take out whole eyes. She would pay me her mileage because she hated going to a morgue by herself in the middle of the night. I used to watch TV, listen to music, read, or help turn the body when necessary (searching for bruises, marks, tattoos). When my friends came over they would often comment about the cooler labeled "human eyes" in our refrigerator. The preservative had to be kept cool and if Mom took our eyes in the middle of the night she waited until the next day to drive them to the State Police.

2. Before Nate and I married I didn't even care if I had biological kids. I knew that I wanted to adopt and felt indifferent about having bio. kids. I thought I would have a huge family made up of entirely adopted kids. Once we were married something bizarre happened and made me want to try for a bio. baby. We were very blessed with Violet. Now we are now blessed with a family made up of both.

3. I am a descendant of Henry the VIII on my dad's side and William Brewster (preacher on the Mayflower) on my mom's side. This was my claim to fame in elementary school.

4. Fast Car by Tracy Chapman is one of my favorite songs of all time. I am kind of embarrassed by this and have no idea why I like it so much (it's pretty dark). I like Tracy Chapman in general. My social worky side has always felt drawn to music about social injustice and sadness.

5. Nate and I went to high school together. He was a senior when I was a freshman. He used to stare at the back of my head in band he liked my hair and had a bit of a crush on me. We did not really speak until my sophomore year in college. After seeing him randomly while visiting IU, I received an email from him and I had never been more excited in my life. My friend Jody used to translate his emails. For example, if Nate wrote, "I hope you had a good day", Jody would say, "Oh Amanda, I have been thinking about you all day and wishing I could be there with you, but I hope you had a great day anyway." Those were fun times.

6. I love Shaklee. I use the cleaning products, laundry soap, air purifier, vitamins, hair care, and would use more if I could afford it (the cleaning products are actually cheaper than store bought). My life was changed when I started taking the vitamins and I no longer required the use of a rescue inhaler or daily allergy medication. The unfortunate thing is that I cannot sell it to save my life and don't even sell enough to supplement my vitamin buying. Oh well.

7. I have been overseas several times (China, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Belgium, Italy, Romania and drove through or landed in other countries) but I hate flying and do not enjoy traveling until it's over. Each time I find myself far away, I pledge never to leave again but then I find myself drawn to some other country for some purpose.

8. I have a secret desire to live in "Little House" times despite the grueling work and long days. I think deep inside I long for simpler times and I wish I were more like Ma.